Refs: Roark | Mikhail and Stefan | Not being left behind | Monica
I was quite pleased with how this comic turned out, in terms of both dialogue and art. I even managed to make the Mulinix Hall nameplate visible!
Next week begins a new arc!
Location: Russia
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I Wonder How This Will Affect Ratings?
Ref: Comic 100 (counting filler) | Comic 100 (not counting filler) | KLTZ News (with a different reporter)
Welcome to the 200th comic of Spoofy Randomness! It’s hard to believe I’ve lasted this long! And yes, that’s the 200th COMIC, so that does not include filler. I included the filler 100th above because it was awesome (and the actual 100th doesn’t even mention it).
I feel like I should apologize for Jorocks’ sole line in this strip, but I’m pretty sure it’s federal law by this point that there has to be a “Hi Mom!” joke at some point when the news is involved. So I was really just fulfilling my patriotic duty.
I did some sketches of Monica to practice drawing her, as I was having trouble with her hair. I also spent a lot of time figuring out how to draw her skirt and legs, which I don’t have a lot of practice in. When I went to actually draw the comic, however, I never wound up using that. Oops.
FYI, the building they are outside of is the Kremlin Senate building, as seen from above here.
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Sponsorship
Ref: Others taking notice | And again | Percy gets on the news | Thomas Gabriel sees the sleigh | Thomas Gabriel introduces himself | Jorocks’s unplanned appearance | Thomas Gabriel helps | Unscrupulous comrades | John is being watched
I think I just broke my record for most reference links, even if I didn’t include links to this same story arc! This comic pulls together a few old loose ends, some of which I’m betting you didn’t see coming. The big one, of course, being General Anatol’s endorsement of Percy’s plan, allowing him to proceed. Those of you who are James Bond fans will likely recognize him as General Anatol Gogol, who is one of my favorite characters of all time and appears in several Bond movies.
While I have always had the idea of outside forces affecting Percy’s dream, nothing was set in stone until the Tornado arc and the creation of Thomas Gabriel. I really like the name as he was a sort of guardian angel during the events of that arc, and I liked the character I had made, so I expanded his role to maintain that guardian angel character. He then appeared in the airport to ease Percy’s passage and helped explain Jorocks being there (how did he know?), but it was never shown who that was. I have since updated his character tags, so apologies if you’re a new reader and had that spoiler.
Next comic is #200! We finally leave the building!
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You’ve Seen Him Before
The shadowy character from the airport returns, only not in shadow anymore! Who is it? Any guesses? You will see his face in the next comic, I promise!
John remains a lot of fun to write for with lines such as the one in Panel 2.
For those of you who are curious, this takes place behind the stage. Also, there was a lot more discussion that took place off-panel, but that would be a lot of details that really don’t fit in a comic.
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Politicians Fear The Naughty List
The conversation about ownership of the North Pole is actually the result of some light research I did in preparation for this arc. Russia is one of several countries attempting to establish ownership; however, given it is one of the most influential as well as the opportunity it gave me in terms of the comedy of John in Russia led Percy to make his first attempt there.
Jorocks is a lot of fun to draw in this arc. He is so bewildered and out of his depth, and it shows in this strip. He has no idea what he is doing here.
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Job Incentives
I meant to include an earlier reference to the fact that Jorocks’ major is architecture, but I’m not sure if that ever got mentioned before this story arc! I’ve known it since shortly after the comic started (about the time Percy and Nikki were discussing their majors), but I never actually stated it in the comic.
Jorocks amuses me a lot in this part of the arc; he is totally out of his element and lost. He hardly knows how he wound up in Russia, let alone in a room filled with the most powerful people in the country. I enjoy drawing his expressions as he sits and listens to Percy address these people and they take him mostly seriously in regards to becoming Santa Claus, in Russian nonetheless. Poor guy.
I had gotten about halfway done with the text for this strip (the last step) when I realized that Jorocks and John had no idea what was being said. I toyed with a couple ideas, including John knowing Russian (an interesting character twist) and Percy translating for Jorocks, but I decided the translating would be redundant and monotonous. I couldn’t think of an easy way to mention the earpieces in their conversation, so I went with the blurb at the bottom.
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Overseasoned
I’ve been really trying to refrain from adding comics to this already long arc since it does only update weekly. However, I felt that between the joke and recent current events in Nebraska and elsewhere that this comic was entirely necessary. That four-letter s-word is in the forecast AGAIN for later this week; ENOUGH ALREADY!
I suppose I should count myself as lucky. I live in the southeast corner of NE, where it was warm enough that the snow did not accumulate. Out west they had nine foot drifts. In APRIL. Not allowed.
In regards to the actual comic, I tried to find images of the actual meeting place of the Russian Council of Ministers; no luck. I did find that it takes place at the Kremlin Senate, which is shown in Panel 2.
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The Case Begins
Hey look, John has his helmet off!
…I just realized that John is very much like Beetle Bailey in appearance. The fact that it’s taken me nearly four years to realize that is a little depressing.
Also, in case it isn’t clear, Jorocks and John are sitting while Percy is standing. You can see the back of John’s chair.
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Dressing Up
Ref: Doctor Jorocks | Russian Jorocks
And now Jorocks’ outfit in the splash page for this arc comes true! “Vanity” is actually a series of fashion stores in Russia, although I doubt if they carry some of those outfits. I had a lot of fun coming up with the rhymes for Jorocks’ costumes; I went into it knowing I wanted a rhyme for “Doctor” to reuse that joke (and yes, proctor is the only thing I could come up with to rhyme that would make sense). As a result, this comic EASILY breaks the record for the largest number of panels with eleven (I believe the previous record is six). Coming up with appropriate color backgrounds was fun as well!
For a guy who wears the same T-shirt every day (well, multiples of that shirt, otherwise that would be gross), Jorocks sure has been seen in a variety of outfits. He has also been seen expressing a taste for flowers, and this list would be woefully incomplete without mentioning the Santa suit again.
You may noticed that Percy’s hair is a bit lighter in this comic compared to last week’s. Not sure where I pulled last week’s colors from, but this is the correct coloration. And none of you would have noticed that error had I not said anything…
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Stein Auf
Ref: Jorocks & the Quads | World War I | World War II
Woo, bonus comic for the week! The above link explains Jorocks’ obsession with the Stein Auf shirt. Clearly, Jorocks & the Quads are Lost and Found fans.
And hey, color! It’s been a while since I used color in regular comics! This is the first of hopefully many color comics. Although since the last comic had nothing visible, could that be considered the first comic to switch to color this time around? Anyway, I think I’m feeling confident enough to be pushing color strips out again, which has been my goal for a long time!
I also really like the suit Percy is wearing. He obviously is going to dress up to impress the politicians. My first thought was to put him in the Santa suit, but I think Percy would realize that he’s going to have a hard enough time being taken seriously as it is. So I gave him this suit that keeps the Santa motif, but looks more modern and professional.
Also, I don’t really know how Russia feels about Germany nowadays (if you know, feel free to comment below!), but Percy wouldn’t want to risk it regardless. After all, that was simply a battle of good vs. evil.